


Nice Guys

by Anonymous



Category: Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 08:47:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7611436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Veronica Mars deserved better than her relationship with Stosh Piznarksi.  Then again, so did Piz.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nice Guys

**Author's Note:**

> OOC, mostly because I don't know enough about music to include that major part of Piz's personality.
> 
> I tried not to bash any characters, except a few _not_ -nice guys in Veronica Mars canon.

Piz is at a party when he overhears it: Discussion No. 319 of why “The Nice Guy” is the biggest jerk of all. He scoffs; he means it to be quiet enough not to be overheard, but the wry look the girl picking up a couple of shrimp appetizers shoots him indicates that he's failed at that.

“I just, don't really get it,” he admits. “What's so wrong with being a nice guy? I brush my teeth, call my mother regularly, fill out my income taxes in March, and treat women with respect. Why should I be excoriated for that?”

“Um, I think it's when it's used as a strategy to get close to a girl,” the girl with the shrimp responds. “I, um, don't really get it either. Sooner or later, people are what they are; any tactics they use to attract someone will fail in a long-term relationship, and that's what the 'Nice Guy' is after, so he's even more doomed to fail, I think, than the guys who pretend to be FBI agents, or whatever. But I guess it is equally hard on the girl who honestly believed he was a nice guy.”

“So it's an honesty thing?”

“Yeah. I think most girls would rather have someone who is genuinely a jerk than insincerely a gentleman.”

“What if they're sincerely a gentleman? I mean, nobody's perfect, sure, but would you really rather have someone be the worst version of themselves just so you know they're not hiding some horrible streak? Isn't striving to be better than your worse impulses a worthwhile trait in a guy, too? Is it too much to ask for a little maturity, here?”

Shrimp Girl takes a bite of her food, using the movement to look away from him, and Piz realizes that he was right: he has no business going to a party when he's still this broken up about his, well, break-up.

“I am so sorry,” he tells Shrimp Girl. “I just, I just broke up with my girlfriend. Or she broke up with me. I'm not actually sure which. And it's really strange, because it's taking me back to when we broke up before, because it feels like we broke up over the same guy as last time. And here I thought I'd grown up since then. I guess I'm the one who's not being mature. So feel free to ignore my little tantrum.” He backs up a little, to make sure she doesn't feel trapped in the conversation, and to offer a clear route away from the food table.

“How long were you dating, then? I mean, this time?” Shrimp Girl asks. She's leaning against the surface behind her, despite his clear offer of an escape, so apparently she's still willing to put up with him. Or at least to hear some juicy gossip about a stranger's life.

“Oh, a year,” he replies, and finally takes another sip of his wine. He almost spits it back up at the look on her face.

“So, you're reverting to how you were a year ago?” she asks. He can understand her confusion.

“Oh, no, no, no,” he says, laughing a little, since he has managed to swallow the wine. It feels like the first triumph he's had all month. “No, it goes: Met really, really hot, smart girl freshman year of college, she had a boyfriend, they broke up, they got back together, they broke up, she asked me out, we dated a while, I realized that what she had with her ex-boyfriend was way more than she'd ever have with me, we broke up. And then, almost a decade later, here I am again, dating the same girl, and then realizing that her relationship with the ex is still more important than her relationship with me.”

“So, you were the rebound guy? I'm sorry, that's tough.”

“The first time, probably. I thought it was long enough after their break-up, but eh. What do college freshmen know? The second time, I think she hadn't seen him since before we broke up the first time. And yet, he gets in trouble, calls her for help, and suddenly the relationship with the guy she's been dating for a year is worth less than spending time with people she hates, just on the off-chance that she can help her ex.”

“Wow,” says Shrimp Girl. Maybe Jake was right; this evening hasn't been so bad. Shrimp Girl is nice and sympathetic, even if she is just gathering gossip. It doesn't bother him all that much; after that video had gotten out, he'd learned that there were more important things to care about than the gossip going on about him. Even true gossip. “If it helps, I don't think you being a gentleman had any kind of a chance against that kind of relationship. I mean, ten years later, he calls for help, and she's there at the snap of his fingers? Yeah, you could have been, I dunno, the modern incarnation of Rudolph Valentino, and it wouldn't have helped. I certainly wouldn't drop a cute guy like you for my ex from a decade ago.”

“How do you know I'm _not_ the modern reincarnation of Rudolph Valentino?” Piz asks, and winks at Shrimp Girl.

“Then again,” Shrimp Girl muses, “my relationship of about a decade ago was, um, not exactly ideal. He was using me against my dad. Plus, he was back with his ex-girlfriend by the next summer, according to the gossip chain. So at best, if there was anything real in our relationship, I was still just the rebound.”

“Ouch, I'm sorry,” Piz winces. “That sounds even rougher than mine. And here I am whining like a baby, when, y'know, I think Veronica and I really did try our best.”

“Oh, yeah,” the girl sighs. “On the other hand, despite his false pretenses, that relationship was actually good for me in some ways. The guy was always really, really sweet towards me, never pushed me anywhere I didn't want to go, no matter what was going on between him and my dad. And, to be fair, there was this whole murder charge involved in the mess.”

“Wow,” says Piz, looking at the girl in wonder. Here was someone whose story might actually top his.

“Oh, yeah. The upshot of the whole thing was, he got off the murder charges, and my dad sent me off to the East Coast for boarding school. I was in California, at a normal high school, before that,” Shrimp Girl explains to his confused face.

“No, yeah, it's just, that's the upshot of my most recent relationship: my ex got her ex off of murder charges, and here I am, exiled to the East Coast,” Piz says. He begins to laugh. “Hey, we should form a club!”

“Sounds good to me,” says Shrimp Girl. “Y'know, it's not really like I minded that my high school boyfriend wasn't convicted on false charges of murder.”

“Oh, me either,” admits Piz. “I'll even admit that my ex's ex has grown up a lot in the last decade, and he definitely didn't deserve to get framed. I'm glad she got him off. I just wish it hadn't required my relationship imploding. But I'm sure you know a little something about that,” Piz says, nodding at her.

“Yeah,” she sighs. “I mean, I wish I weren't the, the pigeon in the movie of this guy's life, but I've decided, better that than the femme fatale with the guilty secret.

"And actually, I don't know, I've figured out my life was a whole lot better after all that. Growing up... My dad and mom really didn't get along, and some of my dad's friends, well, let's just say that they didn't treat me with respect when they visited. The all-girl boarding school I ended up at didn't really allow many chances for relationships, but I discovered that my standards were actually pretty high once I got out and to college. And it's because, the guy that dated me under false pretenses... I think it's because he really was a nice guy, and treated me well. I told you, you are who you are. Turns out, thanks to my high school experience, I actually like nice guys who treat me with respect. There are certainly worse fates.”

“Y'know, I think I really like nice girls. Like the ones who aren't even bitter that they were played in their first romantic relationship. I'm going to offer you something very important here.”

“I also learned that I'm better than being the rebound,” the girl warns.

“Oh, no, no. I was just going to say: You get to be the President of the 'Exiled to the East Coast to Get an Actually Pretty Nice Guy Off Of Murder Charges' Club. I'll take Secretary.”

“That doesn't sound so bad,” she admits. “I'll take it. I move we change the name to something a little more wieldy, though,” she giggles.

“Seconded,” Piz chimes in immediately. “That was awful.”

They're both silent for an awkward moment. This conversation has apparently reached its natural end. Just as the girl starts to sidle away, Piz realizes that, actually, he really wouldn't mind talking to her again.

“Hey, listen, President,” he says. “I would love to have another club meeting at some point. And, fair warning, just so I won't be a Nice Guy; if you'll put up with me that long, I will probably ask you out, once we're both sure you'd be more than a rebound.”

“Sounds good, Secretary. Particularly since I seem to like nice guys. And, um, speaking of names, do you have one, or should I just call you Rudy?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah. Stosh Piznarski. Good to meet you.”

“Hannah Griffith.”

**Author's Note:**

> Y'know, I'm pretty sure they'll come up with a better name for their club, once they bring up a few _more_ names.
> 
> So, I jotted this thing off in an afternoon, because I'd been pondering it since I saw that there was a Summer Lovin' Fic Challenge. (I'm hoping that first blush of a new relationship counts as "lovin'" enough for the challenge.)
> 
> I'm staying anon on this, though, because I am kind of ashamed of it, and not sure anyone else will enjoy it at all. Feel free to chip in with any advice to make this actually worth something.


End file.
